Some motor vehicles, such as pickup trucks, are equipped with a pivotable end gate that closes off the end of a rear storage area. The end gate (also known as a “tailgate”) is a door assembly extending transversely across the width of a rear portion of the vehicle. The end gate is normally hinged to the vehicle body at opposing side edges, near the bottom of the door assembly. The end gate is often mounted to two rear pillars between body side-panels that cooperatively form a vehicle storage area, such as the bed or box of a pickup truck or the rear cargo compartment of a sport utility vehicle (SUV). The end gate may be operable to be unlatched, and swung from a vertical, closed position to a horizontal, open position that is approximately coplanar with an interior floor surface of the vehicle storage area.